Thanks WVDiver. To add to this I spoke with a shop owner this morning regarding this issue and what WVDiver says is along the same lines as what I was told.
There have been issues come up from time to time over this. This is the first time it's gotten this bad to my knowledge. What seems to be the issue here is access. Access for everyone is the ultimate goal. But we have a situation where you have three groups of people -boaters, swimmers, and divers all in one small spot. From my perspective as someone who has been going to the lake for 7 years it is not so much an issue between boaters and divers. It's between boaters and swimmers.
Divers rarely if ever use the docks for anything other than a rare training scenario or maybe an entry and exit for those who are unable to navigate the rocks at the scuba entry. Swimmers on the other hand can be seen swarming the docks, the bank, and parking very close to the water all the way down to the ramp. I've never seen divers do this. The other issue we have is that unlike many of the divers that come there and I'd say a fair number of boaters, the swimmers are locals. Locals who have nowhere else to go to swim. Pissing them off is not a good idea.
Divers and boaters have never had any real problems other than the occasional boater who parks his truck and trailer in front of the scuba access and takes up 8 spaces. Then you have the jet ski operators (I don't consider them boaters) who, no matter where they are, seem to a higher than normal disregard for anyone except themselves. Divers on numerous occasions have assisted boaters in a number of ways. The shop owner I talked to this morning asssisted a boater whose boat capsized Memorial Day weekend by going in and recovering items that otherwise would have been lost. July 4th weekend I was asked to come over to the dock when a boater lost the washer and retaining nut from his starter. I located the washer but the nut was not to be found. While I was doing this a boater who was watching me dropped the pin from his motor mount in the water. I'm not a boat owner but it's the pin that holds the motor up out of the water for trailering. I was able to retrieve it for him.
Anytime I'm there I get questions from boaters and swimmers on what kind of fish, how deep, etc. I always try to be nice and give them as much info as I can.
One thing that divers also always seem to be doing that I see neither swimmers not boaters doing is picking up trash. It's not uncommon to pull in and see divers policing the area all the way down to ramp of beer cans and bottles, pop cans and bottles, empty bait containers, clothes, empty 12 packs, and even dirty diapers. No one tells us to do this but we do. We find cans and bottles in the water that many of us bring up and dispose of properly. We remove snagged lines and fish hooks that could end up in a swimmer's or wader's foot. I make it a point when seeing a swimmer or wader enter the water down by the scuba access to warn them of the junk that slobs have thrown in.
We as a diving community need to make this known to Dominion Power. NOT IN A NASTY WAY! Just state the facts. And more importantly state what you did yourself to make it a better site. The argument about boaters paying license fees is a vaild one but as divers we also contribute to the local economy. We buy gasoline, eat at the Stained Glass, stay at local lodging even though that is now sparse with the Mountaineer closed and it's true that some would not stay there becasue it was "beneath them" but I loved that place. There are many good memories in those walls for me.
I am going to send an email to Dominion as well as an excerpt from the chapter on local diving in my book and how it benefits the community and economy. I am also going to post that excerpt here in a few minutes for others to use in emails to them. Here is the contact info I've been able to find for them so far:
DOMINION MOUNT STORM POWER STATION
HC 76 BOX 430 MOUNT STORM , WV 26739
Media relations staff members are available by phone Monday-Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. While e-mail inquiries are welcome around the clock, if you have a question that requires immediate attention after regular work hours, during holidays or on weekends, please call the MediaLine, 804-771-6115. An on-call media relations duty person will respond to your call.
•David Botkins - Director, Media Relations
804-771-6115,
David.B.Botkins@dom.com
•Karl Neddenien, Dominion Virginia Power
804-771-6115,
Karl.R.Neddenien@dom.com
•Daisy Pridgen, community affairs, broadcasting liaison, the Piedmont and Shenandoah Valley
804-771-6115,
Daisy.Pridgen@dom.com
Dominion Virginia Power/Dominion North Carolina Power also has the following media and community relations managers in the company's service area to respond to local media inquiries, such as storm-related outages.
•Le-Ha Anderson, Northern Virginia
703-796-9308,
Le-Ha.Anderson@dom.com
•Bonita Harris, Eastern Virginia, North Carolina
757-857-2367,
Bonita.B.Harris@dom.com
I am also going to be contacting a couple DEMA board members to see if there is anything they can do. The CEO of our agency is now on the DEMA board and last week the President of the DEMA board asked him to call that "Lapenta guy" and have me look at the geocaching site they are promoting to try and help local diving. It seems that some of my posts reagrding DEMA not doing enough to support local divers and diving did not go unnoticed! So do what you can and be nice and polite but let Dominion know what the loss of access to the lake means for you. Next post will be the excerpt from the book.
Thanks, Jim Lapenta
UDM Aquatic Services